Community leaders of Kajjansi and Katabi Town Councils have described a move by the National Building Review Board (NBRB) to hold community sensitization meetings on building laws and regulations as a platform of sharing firsthand information on the status of the building sector in their areas.
On Saturday a team from NBRB held an engagement at St. Barnabas Church of Uganda Namulanda with local leaders from Bwebajja, Namulanda A and B, Buzzi, Kabale, Kisubi, Kasaali and Nganjo parishes in Kajjansi and Katabi Town Councils. Leaders including LCI and II chairpersons, Landlords, Councilors, PWDs representatives Church leaders, teachers and security officers among others attended the meeting.
The discussions centered around the mandate of NBRB, the distinction in the roles physical planning and building committees, the Building Industry Management System (BIMS), classification of buildings, building control fees, causes and solutions to building accidents among others.
In the meeting, NBRB’s Senior Standards Officer warned the public against hiring nonprofessionals on construction sites. “There are many masqueraders in the field calling themselves engineers or architects, you must always ask them for proof of registration from their respective professional bodies before they do any work”. Mutalya emphasized.
Herbert Zziwa, NBRB’s Manager Communications underscored the role of village councils in the building control process. “Under section 35 (f) of the Building Control Act, 2013, a letter from the chairperson of the village council is one of the mandatory requirements when one is applying for a building permit. This therefore implies that as LC’s you are one of the gate keepers in the building process”. Zziwa noted.
The LCII Chairperson of Namulanda Parish, Lubwama Musisi Richard who requested for the meeting, appreciated the NBRB work and called for more efficiency and transparence in the building control processes especially at the town council level.
In response Adolf Bagenda, the ICT Officer- Software Development at NBRB encouraged the leaders to embrace the Building Industry Management System (BIMS) as a solution to Lubwama’s concerns.
BIMS, an online platform launched in December last year, digitized all the building control processes. Using the system, a developer can now apply for building and occupation permits, commit the services of registered professionals, schedule for routine building inspections, pay building control fees and get instant feedback on the services request for online.